War All the Time is a selection of poetry from the early 1980s. Charles Bukowski shows that he is still as pure as ever but he has evolved into a slightly happier man that has found some fame and love. These poems show how he grapples with his past and future colliding.

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More About the Author

Charles Bukowski is one of America's best-known contemporary writers of poetry and prose, and, many would claim, its most influential and imitated poet. He was born in Andernach, Germany, and raised in Los Angeles, where he lived for fifty years. He published his first story in 1944, when he was twenty-four, and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. He died in San Pedro, California, on March 9, 1994, at the age of seventy-three, shortly after completing his last novel, Pulp (1994).

Product Description

About the Author

Charles Bukowsk is one of America's best-known contemporary writers of poetry and prose, and, many would claim, its most influential and imitated poet. He was born in 1920 in Andernach, Germany, to an American soldier father and a German mother, and brought to the United States at the age of three. He was raised in Los Angeles and lived there for fifty years. He published his first story in 1944 when he was twenty-four and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. He died in San Pedro, California, on March 9, 1994, at the age of seventy-three, shortly after completing his last novel, Pulp.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Charles Bukowski could have been just another hard-drinking, hard-living echo-of-Hemmingway cliché, but he wasn't. His voice was his own and he was often very, very funny. No, really. See 'How I Got Started' and the like to discover just how good his humour was.

This is an excellent collection of this early 80s work, a good, chunky selection of a particularly good period... It's also a stylishly designed and well printed volume.

Poets suffer more than most from comparisons with their peers, and so I shall spare CB further such irrelevancies.

Just be aware that you may find this volume so good that have to buy further volumes to satisfy yourself.

If you have not read bukowski you have not read the truth of perspective.Brace yourself, you will be in for one hell of a ride. I have never seen pain in such a beautiful, stark, and up-front manner as this man was able to communicate. it makes you want to bleed ink.

A charecter picks up a copy of War All the Time and thumbs through it in a fairly conspicuous way about half-way through the movie. The director must be a Buk fan!Cool!By the way, this is a great collection of Bukowski's poetry. . .

Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)

Amazon.com:
16 reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

Before He Was REALLY Big...16 Mar. 2006

By
Andrea Beebe
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Paperback

Many fans and critics of Bukowski often bemoan the "watering down" of the quality of his poems versus the quantity after he learned how to use a word processor (myself included), but here was Chinaski at his purest, coming out of the 70's with seemingly more short stories and novels than poems, still so brash and raw that you can practically smell the boozy halitosis blending with the carbon ink.

I ended up haviong to buy a new copy after my 3rd ed. Black Sparrow copy mysteriously vanished over the winter. Although the ECCO editions are nice enough, (hardcovers included), the print seems a little different and the paper feels a bit thinner, but I suppose I might be a little biased as I loved the original printings (plus you'll never see an autograph/drawing on a HarperCollins edition!).

Some really good long poems are included which always makes for great re-reading, but works like "the condition" and "suggestion for an arrangment" will have you whipping off lines from memory, maybe just like Buk did when he wrote them.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

a great collection of straight masculine poesy3 Mar. 2004

By
Craig Stoughton
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Paperback

Bukowski often wrote that he thought most poetry was dandyfied, prissyfied, pretty, not real, fake, false and worst of all, restrictive to the "masses". To him there were a few exceptions; John Fante, Hamsun and early Hem. in prose, some of Pound, all of Sarayon, all of Jeffers in poetry. Hank wrote clearly and lucidly about many topics, not just getting drunk and sleeping with women as many of his detractors claim. He also wrote clean crisp poetry about LA and the race track, and traffic, other writers and about cats, and food, and taking baths and, well, about life!!!! Life being lived by a human being. War All the Time was written during the early to mid eighties, a time when Hank had had some success with his writing. His movie was out and enjoying some success. He was 60 years old and he had a newer car and a house in San Pedro he owned and a woman he loved (the second Linda) so his words in this collection are not quite as hard as poems from earlier on, like the poems found in the Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame collection. But, War All the Time is still lucid and clear as a drink of vodka on ice, this collection is right up there with the best of Bukowski.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Bukowski at the Race Track...21 Sept. 2001

By
Badactor
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Paperback

Charles Bukowski brilliantly captures the race track experience. His poetry in the "horsemeat" section of "War All The Time"is an hysterical, decadent, powerful and exciting, tribute to Thoughrobreds and their Fans.If you can't actually be at the track, Bukowski's poetry will carry you there; from Gate to Wire, his poetry is OUTSTANDING!!!...

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4 out of 5 stars29 July 2002

By
William D. Tompkins
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Paperback

im a big bukowski fan . i didnt love this collection nor did i hate it . i was more indifferent and found myself sometimes reading thru the poems quickly. out of the 5 of his books ive read thus far, this one has the least amount of pages marked with poems to go back and read

Should Have Read Him Sooner26 Feb. 2013

By
Kelly Sessions
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Paperback

I found this collection terribly easy to read, except for the fact that I kept wanting to stop and mark my favorites to make them easier to find in the future. (I had quite a few "favorites.") Bukowski's writing is funny, weary, hardened, and terribly poignant. He alternates without warning between gruff and heartbreaking and takes the reader for an emotional ride.

Holden Caulfield said, "What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it." I loved this idea when I first read The Catcher in the Rye. I don't feel like that often, though. And actually, in Bukowski's case, I'm pretty sure I *wouldn't* like him much if I were in the same room as him...but I sure as hell enjoy reading about him and what he's doing, probably because his poems also include his reactions to the world around him. He writes like he can't help but write, and I appreciate that. Now I've gotta check out some of his prose...